HOME advantage meant little to Adrian Barraclough as York Masters favourite Ashley Hugill beat him 3-0 in their opening group match.

The tournament, which sees many of the city’s top Conservative Club and CIU league players facing off in a bid to be crowned York’s best player, is being held on Barraclough’s World Snooker standard table above his Quickslide showroom in Layerthorpe.

Barraclough came out on top in a number of the safety battles but could not capitalise when among the balls.

Melbourne-based Hugill, who can count professionals Pankaj Advani and Noppon Saengkham among his scalps in practice, took the opener with a 36 break late in the frame.

He won the second more comfortably, a long red paving the way for a good 33 break, and the win was completed with a 62-21 victory in frame three.

Barraclough must now beat Acomb’s Roland Cox to have any chance of getting through to the last 16.

Earlier in the second week of play, former professional Steve Gregson, along with Hugill a top tip for the tournament, dispatched Acomb and York RI stalwart Keith Thornhill 3-0.

Following a commanding 76-25 victory in frame one, he followed up with a break of 48 – the highest of the tournament so far – to move 2-0 in front.

The third frame followed much the same path as the previous two, with Gregson easing to victory.

Paul Holmes put together a hard fought 3-1 win over Nick Marchant. An upset looked on the cards after Marchant potted a good long pink, and the black, to take the opening frame.

Breaks were hard to come by, with good safety play from both players, but Holmes levelled, moved in front and secured the match victory after a black ball finish in frame four.

Pete Glover and Justin Morris needed to be separated by a final frame, the former taking a 3-2 victory, while this week’s highlights see John Dowd and Andi Ireland making their tournament bows.